I never thought that this place exists in Hong Kong. The photo was taken during our bus ride to Ngong Ping Village. I have this misconception that Hong Kong is a fully urbanized territory. Everything is about high rise buildings and usual landscape of the city life. Turns out, Hong Kong also boasts its own hidden and quiet getaway. I failed to take photos but I even spotted beaches along the way. Hard to believe? Yes especially if you haven't seen this side of Hong Kong. 

We didn't include Ngong Village during my first trip in Hong Kong three years ago. Back then, we were focused with Disneyland and the side trip to Macau. When I finally had the chance to see Hong Kong again, I wanted to check out all the places I missed. 

Ngong Ping serves as the gateway to Lantau Island, what I see as the hidden and silent side of Hong Kong. The famous landmark of Ngong Ping is the Tian Tan Buddha Statue. Before reaching the Buddha Statue, there are already a lot of interesting scenic spots. 


Mountain ranges exist in Hong Kong. If someone told me about Hong Kong's mountain ranges years ago, I will obviously consider that person as a liar. Hahaha




The train and bus trip to Ngong Ping Village will consume some time. And given that there's a  lot of open spaces to explore in Ngong Ping, I highly recommend taking light snacks before climbing Buddha's statue. There's a small store selling fried dimsum and hotdogs on the left side of the arch's entrance. 













I didn't bother to count the steps to reach Buddha's statue. Hahaha I can always google it anyway. And according to wikipedia links, there's a total of 268 steps. 










Truth to be told, I wasn't fulfilled with our trip to Ngong Ping Village. I knew that I just explored half of Ngong Ping Village. I feel sad and disappointed for many reasons. We were not able to try the cable car. It's a shallow item in my bucket list. I missed it in Singapore. I missed it on my first trip to Hong Kong. On this visit, we were quite unfortunate that Ngong Ping scheduled their annual maintenance. There was a chance for me to try it in Ocean Park, but the itinerary changed beyond my control. This makes it more frustrating for me because I was  the one who drafted our itinerary. I wanted to experience the Nature Guided Tour, Tai O Fishing Village, Tai O Boat Excursion and the Po Lin Monastery. Sigh, I missed a lot.